COUNTRY MUSIC MARATHON IS GETTING A NEW NAME

The St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon is changing its tune.

After 16 years, the name of the race was changed Monday.

Officials said the annual event is now the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Marathon & Half Marathon.

Josh Furlow, president of the Competitor Group, Inc. which owns the event, said the reason for the name change was to further integrate the event into the company’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon global series, which includes a total of 30 cities.

For instance, some of the other names in the series are the Suja Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half-Marathon and Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh Marathon.

“The evolution of (Nashville) has followed the same evolution as our brand,” Furlow said. “That has been to focus on a key brand, but at the same time cast the net wider from the music genres, from the consumer’s appetite and overall kind of link it directly with the brand that’s already successful in the markets that we do worldwide.”